How stroke care continues after leaving the hospital

When someone has a stroke, it is important for them to get the care they need right away.

But that care doesn't stop when the patient leaves the hospital.

"It's really important that you have that continuing of care from the time they first hit our emergency room until after they go home," says Nicole Shea, Stroke Program Manager at Mercy Medical Center. "It's something that you have to do what one of my stroke survivors calls "boot camp" every day for the rest of your life."

That is where Mercy Home Care comes in to play. Nurses and medical professionals consistently meet with their patients at home to improve their recovery.

"We meet them in their home, initially. We like to do it within day one or day two they are sent home. We bring them some educational material, and we get our whole crew involved," says Kelly Jocase, Case Manager for Mercy Home Care.

While the typical road to recovery includes hospital care, home care, and then outpatient therapy, each patient's path, like everyone's fingerprint, is different.

"Each client is set up with an individual plan," says Jocase. "We work around their individual needs and their individual deficits to get them where they need to be."

All of this takes place with a large end goal in mind.

"Mercy's Home Care goal for all patients is for us to be able for them to stay in their home for as long as they can with the best quality of life possible," says Jocase.